A practical guide to health and fitness for people exactly like me

i.e. How I lost 20 lbs in a year while keeping the muscle (probably)

This post is not about weight loss - it’s more of a realistic discussion of how I get 80% towards my health and fitness goals with 20% of the effort as an average person who wants to look and feel good without sacrificing joy. 

Most mainstream fitness content focuses on weight loss, insane muscle gains, or abs, because that’s what people ideally want. As a result, if folks try to be better at fitness, and don’t hit those goals within some short-ish time, they give up. This has been my experience at least, and this is written for people who feel the same. Search for “favourite high protein low cal meals” on this page if you just want to see the recipes.

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I started calorie tracking in January 2023. This is what my weight graph has looked like since then:

This whole journey started from a rock climbing session with my brother and his girlfriend, where I was coaching them on what they needed to work on to get drastically better¹.

They then asked me the same question:

“So what do you need to do to massively improve?”

to which I replied:

“Probably lose 20 pounds while keeping the muscle.”

I calculated that, to lose 10 lbs over 6 months, I needed to eat about 300-400 cals less than I usually do to maintain my weight. I also needed to eat about 150-180 grams of protein a day, the rest being carbs and fat, to mostly maintain my muscle mass, while working out 5-10 hours a week.

When I started, I thought about hitting all those goals and tracked everything religiously.

And I lost no weight.

Every time I strayed from my intended diet, I’d get discouraged, stop tracking anything beyond my goal calories, feeling like I “roughly hit it” and “tomorrow will be better anyway”. 

I really started losing weight (and more importantly, felt better!) once I only tracked occasionally, and only thought about 3 things, ordered by priority:

• eating lots of protein and more veggies

• moving more (climbing 3x a week, walk a lot)

• no sugar in the house, drinking more (sparkling) water

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1. Eat lots of protein and more veggies

Protein is just the 🐐 of all macronutrients. Keeps you full, helps you build muscle mass if you’re working out, helps you not lose muscle while you’re not working out, and has the lowest calories/gram (leaving more caloric room for dessert if you want).

For the base of most of my high protein low cal meals, I usually turn to chicken, greek yogurt, and Fairlife protein shakes. Each of these has roughly a 1g protein to 5 cals ratio, which I consider amazing. I’ll normally consider something a decent protein source if it has between a 1g:10-20 cals ratio². I also try to minimize sodium if I can.

I can’t always prep my own food, but even when I’m out or have less than ideal ingredients, I’m still aiming to maximize the protein to calorie ratio. I’ll order extra chicken on the side when I’m out, or look for the closest thing to meat + starch + veggies on the menu at restaurants, or if my roommate has hot pockets, I’ll add a side of pre cooked chicken. That same pocket could’ve been 310 cals and 10g protein, an abysmal 1:31 ratio, but with a side of chicken turns into 460 cals: 34g protein, suddenly looking a lot more manageable, and it still all comes together in under 5 mins.

Also I need to eat more veggies, I know that. I’m trying. The air fryer does help a lot, but I still just don’t like the taste of most veggies over meat/dairy/starch. Pro tip: Air frying³ makes everything better. Pre-cooked chicken, veggies for roasting, even hot pockets.

I eat basically the same core foods everyday in different combinations/with different sauces, starches, or veggies so I don’t get bored. My shopping list is usually just couple staples that make up my core diet, and then just get stuff to compliment the base high protein low cal ingredients:

• pre cooked and cubed chicken breast

• sous vide sirloin steak

• 0% plain greek yogurt

• frozen blueberries/mixed berries

• Fairlife protein shakes

• frozen high protein chicken tenders

• frozen veggies

Some of my favourite high protein low cal meals are:

1. Protein parfait

   1. 2 big scoops of 0% greek yogurt, a scoop of whey protein powder (I use strawberry cream), then cram in as many frozen blueberries as you can and mix everything super thoroughly

   2. That’s the core but I also add flax seeds for fibre, a small spoon of peanut butter for taste (crunchy, 1 ingredient pb without all the additives) and a little protein granola on top for texture

   3. ~400-500 calories and about 50g protein, giving a 1g:10cals ratio, and it tastes like dessert

2. High protein tacos

   1. Get some keto tortillas, they’re usually made with a higher concentration of wheat gluten in the flour mixture, which is almost pure protein, and put whatever you want in them

   2. I usually prep them by heating up the pre cooked chicken or sous vide steak on a pan really quickly, then tossing the tortillas on with some low-fat pre-shredded mozzarella cheese (also somewhat low-cal-high-pro) to melt, then top it with some low sodium salsa and, if I feel like dirtying some dishes, some gochujang mixed with onion salt and greek yogurt — it’s like a much lighter, creamier, less acidic buffalo ranch sauce and cuts the heaviness of the rest of the dish.

   3. You can also eat this completely cold if you’re in a rush. It tastes pretty okay but comes together in under 60 seconds if you skip the yogurt, or put everything in the air fryer for 5 mins and top with the sauces⁴.

   4. Depending on the size of your tortillas and how much meat and sauce you put in, it’s about ~300-350 cals and 30-40g protein per taco.

3. Any meat I have in the fridge + frozen veggies in the airfryer

   1. This is probably the meal I eat the most. Really filling, really quick, pretty healthy, and doesn’t taste terrible.

   2. Air-fried veggies are a game changed for me. I get any blend they have in the frozen aisle at Costco, season with a little olive, coconut or avocado oil and onion salt, air fry at 350-400 it for like 8-12 minutes, and it’s like having oven roasted veggies way quicker and easier.

   3. I’ll also toss chicken some chicken halfway through cooking into the airfryer, or sear the sous-vide steak in a pan for 20 seconds, or toss the high protein chicken tenders in with the veggies and set the timer to 15 mins instead. If I’m eating tenders, I’ll make the gochujang yogurt dipping sauce too.

   4. I eyeball all my portions and it wildly depends on what veggies and meats you get, but if you’re sticking to the stuff I listed above, the protein to calorie ratio goes crazy. Trust me.

4. Fairlife protein shakes

   1. These have a special place in my heart. 30g protein, 150 calories, 2g sugar and tastes just like chocolate milk. I usually have 2/day, especially after climbing and first thing in the morning. I find having protein first thing makes me feel more energetic even if I eat badly later. It also helps that they’re lactose free, and basically just ultra-filtered milk with cocoa powder and sweetener.

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2. Move more

I always knew I had to exercise to stay healthy, but the gym never really appealed to me that much. Even when I went regularly, I was forcing myself to, and always gave up the habit because I just didn’t enjoy it.

Climbing is the best of all worlds: it’s fun, works out your whole body, gives you pulling and grip strength, and the community is very social. Plus, gyms I’ve gone to usually have an area for weights, or sometimes even a sauna or yoga studio, all of which I’ve taken advantage of.

I get bored easily so variety is really important for me — climbing gyms usually have new problems/projects for me to tackle compared to always moving the same heavy rocks in the same motions, the only difference being sometimes the rocks are heavier or you’re moving ropes/platforms instead.

I try to climb at least 3 times a week but move everyday. I’ll usually be sore from climbing but if I’m not too battered up, I’ll play some sport on my off days. Usually basketball, but some other fun movement activities I’ve tried include yoga, pickleball and ice skating, none of which I’d tried before last year.

Climbing is also why I think I kept my muscle while losing weight. I consistently climbed better throughout the year, and even if I didn’t keep all the muscle, I still feel good as long as I can get high (by pulling plastic rocks). Just another thing I do to focus on quality of life when it comes to health and fitness rather than the number on the scale.

I also aggressively try to “get my steps in”. I’m not aiming for 10k but it usually happens if I just aim to go outside, or not work from home. I also try to see a friend at minimum every other day, and make plans to do nothing in particular but walk around, thus usually achieving more than 10k steps as a byproduct of being social.

Moving everyday is the most important thing — doesn’t matter how much or how little, but I just feel miles better on days where I move, and it keeps my momentum going for everything.

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3. No sugar in the house, more (sparkling) water

I started out thinking that I should “eat less sugar” and “snack less”. And I never stuck to it, so I’ve since changed that a little to make it more achievable.

No sugar in the house, but if I feel some sort of sugary craving, I’m allowed to have it. Except I have to really savour it. I have to get the best sugar possible. I have to go to that high-class downtown bakery with the $5 cookies. Or that incredible pastry place only open for 12 hours a week. No pop-tarts, those just aren’t good enough to be my “one sweet”. I deserve the best.

I find that by thinking about dessert this way, I end up ignoring 9/10 sugar cravings. And if I do succumb and actually make the trek to get that perfect dessert, I usually:

a) do it with a friend

b) end up walking there

c) feel absolutely no guilt because it feels “worth it”

But I’m not allowed to buy Oreos and keep them in my house, because most times I find that I’m not eating sugar because I want it so badly I might explode, I’m actually just eating it because it’s there.

I am also now convinced that snacking is the devil. It’s just your brain being hungry but wanting instant gratification instead of a proper meal. You’re eating not because you’re hungry but because you need something to do instead of being idle.

Once I realized this, I still kept snacking. My monkey brain just couldn’t resist. But over time, 2 things worked to keep my snacking to a minimum (other than not having them in the house, which I never did):

• Intermittent fasting — I started this accidentally and don’t actually time it, but because I usually skip breakfast to work, and at night I’m usually working on side projects or gaming so I don’t get hungry. This just gets me to eat less, and I continued it consciously once I realized how much energy I have from not eating constantly. No science here, just anecdotally I like it.

• Drinking lots of sparkling water — I don’t really know why but sparkling water curbs my appetite a lot, and I’ve grown to really love the taste/feeling. You should probably be drinking regular water if you want to be really healthy, but for me the alternative is snacking, and sparkling water keeps me busy/satiated, so I’ll pick some CO2 over whatever they put in Oreo’s 10/10 times. I also try to avoid sparkling waters with artificial flavours (even if the label says natural flavours it’s artificial) — my faves are Spindrift and Topo Chico, but they’re much harder to find in Canada, so there I go with Eska.

I also drink Fairlife protein chocolate milk and will eat a protein bar every now and then as a snack — again, they probably have their own problems, but for me they satisfy the sugar craving while having much lower calories and higher protein than a Reese’s PB cup.

The key is not perfection but getting 80% of the way there so you can stay consistent. Striving for and then failing to achieve perfection is what makes me quit being healthy altogether.

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Ok cool whatever why should I even listen to you anyway?

Well you really don’t. This is the internet — go watch some dude with abs yell at you for doing every exercise wrong, see if I care.

But everything I write, I write for people exactly like me. And if you’re someone who’s always in the back of their mind felt a little bit insecure about how they look and feel, but find it super daunting to change, I’m just here to tell you it’s possible because I’ve done it, and I’ve done it with simple, small, but consistent changes. It won’t be fast, but it can be easy, and if you’re consistent and slow, you won’t gain it back either.

And I still eat carbs and dessert all the time, and I still don’t have a six-pack, nor is that really what I’m aiming for. What I have done is gotten to a point where I feel the best physically I’ve ever felt in my life, and feel at home piloting my skeleton rather than wishing everyday that I could trade it in for a better model.

At one point, I used to know nothing about nutrition and exercise (also I was a kid), and I looked like this:

Then my brother told me no girls in high school would talk to me if I was fat, so I started running, playing basketball, became the captain of my school’s rugby team, and ate way less sugar, got skinny, and looked like this:

Then I learned about the gym, started going, got a little more buff, then the pandemic happened, I got chubbier again, then I said comeback szn in in 2023, and now I feel very good and look like this:

Take from that what you will. You can do it. Go lift some heavy rocks.

1. I thought my brother needed to use his feet more, and his gf needed to get over her fear of falling so she could do more dynamic moves.

2. Some fun comparisons:

• chickpeas are about 1g: 20 cals

• 2% milk is about 1: 15 cals

• peanut butter is 1:27 !!

3. Don’t think of it as a fryer. Think of it as a mini convection oven because that’s physically what it is: an electric coil with a fan blowing the hot air around. Put in anything you’d normally put in the oven. Higher temp if you want it crispy, lower temp if u want it to soften, 325-350 deg F for 10-12 mins for almost everything, and check it sometimes to make sure it’s not burnt.

4. Recently I’m liking Trader Joe’s cowboy caviar and hatch valley salsa.